INCOME from tourism around Huddersfield has virtually doubled in the past seven years, new figures show.

INCOME from tourism around Huddersfield has virtually doubled in the past seven years, new figures show.

Tourism now generates £285m for the area - a rise from £150m in 1997.

It is thought tens of thousands more visitors could be attracted to Last Of The Summer Wine country.

With visitor numbers to Kirklees rocketing, tourism bosses are renewing efforts to promote the beauties of the district world-wide.

Central to their campaign will be the stark Pennine landscape.

They want to boost business by a further 5% over the next four years and net an extra £14m while creating an additional 350 full-time jobs.

At the moment more than 7,000 people are employed in the district's tourism trade.

The increase in tourism is also reflected in rising retail figures.

Shoppers spent £387.7m around Huddersfield last year, placing the town as the second-largest centre in West Yorkshire, according to a survey by marketing information company CACI.

But there are still some aspects keeping tourists away.

When surveyed, half of all visitors felt the quality of the local environment was poor or very poor with litter and graffiti creating a bad first impression.

The misconception of Huddersfield as a grim mill town also plays a part in keeping people away.

And the lack of a nationally-recognised major tourist attraction is also seen as a disadvantage when Leeds has the Royal Armouries, Castleford the X-Scape indoor snow slope and Bradford the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television.